The sunken church

Childhood revisited

My siser Jane and I with Jenny, Jill and Margaret (and Dad)

and with Mum

and on one of our Corwen hikes

and so to our visit in May to this amazing old church now restored by CADW and the first time I'd ever been inside

Every year on holiday at Hafod Yr Afr us five girls would adventure down this (then overgrown) graveyard and scare ourselves silly peeping into the dark cobwebby windows of this deeply sunken church.  Not whitewashed as now but grey and crumbling.

But turns out it's not sunken at all, but purposely dug into the hillside!

Incredible graveyard

and even more incredible, wall paintings and minstrals' gallery still intact inside the tiny ancient space

This one meant to represent 'from the cradle to the grave' as there are two unborn babies in the womb of the skeleton!!

unique font

beautiful doors

and entrance

leper's window

and up to the gallery

complete with one of last remaining four sided music stands

then back on the ground floor

Boxed pews for the rich on the left and basic benches on the right for the poor

note the triple pulpit on the left

All the wood in the church, although old, is much newer then the building itself, which would have been a very plain place of worship in its early years

and look at the doorposts

the incredible marks where the archers sharpened their arrows, having made them from the yew in the churchards - as archery practice was complulsary for all after Sunday services in the Middle Ages

and if you get a yen to visit - it's Llangar Church, in the care of CADW along with Rug Chapel.  Because it hadn't been opened up since 1850 so much has remained in tact inside.  More info and opening times here

"Llangar church is situated above the junction of the Dee and Alwen rivers near Cynwyd, in a steep church yard of jumbled tombstones.  According to legend it was originally named 'Llan Garw Gwyn' the church of the white stag, after a magical deer whose appearance prompted it to be built.  The inside walls contain many layers of wall paintings dating from the 15th centuary, including an 18th centuary Figure of Death with hourglass and grave digging tools."

An absolute gem

and this is Margaret and me at the scene (the two in the middle of the horse photo earlier with white pumps on)

Still crazy after all these years . . .

Yellow

Beautiful Welsh poppies out all over the place just now and here's some we spotted last week in Llangian churchyard on the Llyn

and dont' forget Coldplay and the wonderful Yellow

who needs Lego

My first ever go at building anything is a distant memory at the house of a 'boy', as girls just didn't get to have brill sets like Bayko back in the day!

And I finally got to see this stuff of legends at the Museum of Liverpool the other week with their Empire State Building - too big to photo in one go.

Memories of thin metal rods swaying on green bases until you managed to slide in a few wall bricks and windows!  Then the realisation you forgot the door and had to unthread loads of bits of wall . . .

can only assume this Leo guy also got his brick order wrong at some stage in that long four years!  And I see by a quick google that there are Bayko fan clubs galore and even a Baykoman - but lets not go there . . .

stone walls and the grass is green

with huge apologies to the wonderful Saw Doctors (for the title that is) but just sprang into my mind as I realised I'd not mentioned our stone wall spotting of late


in Mull - a perfect example of the traditional Highland dry stone wall - a jumble of huge boulders in a single layer that you can see through (lovely late at night)

 and in Carreg - a true example of the intricate Llyn walls with the grassy infill

spottings inspired by our trip last month to the National Stone Centre and it's amazing Millenium Wall - read here for more about:


Highland walls


and


Llyn walls

and if you want to catch up with the song, it's N17 by the Saw Doctors and here's some great early footage

watchin' the river flow

So, start off by playing this wonderful lazy ballard of Bob's, with a bit of a Sheffield twist from Joe Cocker, and imagine us lunching at the top of the Panoramic watching boats and ferries tooing and froing across the Mersey millions of miles below

or for the purists, I found this wonderful clip of Dylan himself in 2005 (thanks to Steven Pate) - just click here

followed by a sunny afternoon on the Pier Head at the new Museum of Liverpool . .

short-cutting through the churchyard of the wonderful St Nick's where great grandpa Waugh played the organ

 

and where Jane spotted a rival Liver bird lurking in the trees

past the mighty Liver Building

the wobbly three graces - sorry for the jaunty angle!!

and the Custom House reflected in the new Museum of Liverpool

and, inside, the wonderful old carriage from Docker's Umbrella and memories for Mum

and here's a clip of it in it's heyday

and an unexpected poetry treat in the museum, courtesy of Roger McGough

then it was goodbye river and lamb-bananas

and the most exotic ventilation shaft ever - for the Birkenhead tunnel

great statue outside the ferry terminal

and another at our 'leaving of Liverpool' at LIme Street station

another brill day in my Liddypool home . . .

and I'll leave you with the songs:

The Leaving of LIverpool - The Dubliners

 

In my Liverpool Home and Liverpool Lou